CO 7-6 submillimeter emission from the galactic center - warm molecular gas and the rotation curve in the central 10 parsecs

Journal Article · Mon Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1985 · Astrophys. J.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/184516· OSTI ID:5680564

Harris, A I; Jaffe, D T; Silber, M; Genzel, R

Bright CO J = 7-6 submillimeter line emission in the central 10 pc of the Galaxy has been mapped. This is the first detection of the 7-6 line from the Galactic center; it was made with a new submillimeter heterodyne spectrometer mounted on the 3.0-m NASA IRTF telescope at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The 372-micrometer CO emission comes from a dense, clumpy disk (10,000 solar masses) of temperature about 300 K. The luminosity of all CO rotational lines emitted from this approximately 4-arcmin diameter region is about 20,000 solar luminosities. CO line emission is a major contribution to the cooling of the interstellar gas near Sgr A. The CO data show that the rotational velocities drop by a factor of 1.4 to 2 between 2 and 6 pc from the center. The rotation curve is consistent with a Keplerian fall off around a point mass and implies that most of the mass is in a more compact distribution than an isothermal stellar cluster. Broad line width emission toward the central 30 arcsec of the Galaxy indicates that there is a significant amount of molecular material in the inner, mostly ionized, cavity. 21 references.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Berkeley
• OSTI ID: 5680564
• Journal Information: Astrophys. J.; (United States), Journal Name: Astrophys. J.; (United States) Vol. 294; ISSN ASJOA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640105* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Galaxies
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ANGULAR VELOCITY
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON MONOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
COSMIC GASES
DISTRIBUTION
FLUIDS
GALAXIES
GALAXY NUCLEI
GASES
HEATING
LUMINOSITY
MASS DISTRIBUTION
MILKY WAY
MOLECULES
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
VELOCITY